Inclusions in a liquid composition are more visually attractive if the inclusions are suspended throughout the liquid composition. For example, it is often desirable to incorporate particulate matter or inclusions in beverages. However, there is a tendency for such inclusions to sink to the bottom or float to the top of the beverage. This is especially true if the inclusions are larger than about one (1) cubic millimeter.
Prior art methods of preventing inclusions from sinking to the bottom or floating to the top of a beverage have met with only limited success. For example, one standard method for making beverage flavoring or clouding emulsions is to make the density of the inclusions or particulates identical to the density of the surrounding aqueous phase. However, this requires that permitted weighting agents must be dissolved in the oil phase of the emulsion. As a result, this method is only useful for small inclusions of the order of about 3 to 10 microns.
For larger particles, gravity balancing may be achieved, but only for one set of conditions, e.g. solids content of the beverage, solids content of the particles or inclusions, size of the particles or inclusions, and temperature. Variation from this fixed set of conditions invariably leads to separation.
Increasing the viscosity of the liquid composition using certain gums and starches is a technique that can be used to delay separation, but leads to unpleasant mouthfeel in the final product.
A method of suspending inclusions in an acidic or alcoholic liquid composition is disclosed and claimed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/406,211, filed Jan. 27, 1995. In the method disclosed therein, a pre-gel solution including between about 0.2% and 1.5% by weight gellan gum in water is prepared, an acidic or alcoholic liquid composition having inclusions is provided, the pre-gel solution is incorporated into the liquid composition to form a suspending solution, the suspending solution is permitted to rest for a predetermined period of time, and the rested suspending solution is then agitated to suspend the inclusions.
In the method described in the copending application, it is sometimes necessary to incorporate the pre-gel solution into the liquid composition at an elevated temperature. In practice, this is considered undesirable since elevated temperatures require increased energy usage and result in increased processing costs.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide an improved method for suspending inclusions in a liquid composition.
It is a goal of the invention to provide an improved method for suspending inclusions or particulates in a liquid composition.
It is another goal of the invention to provide a method for suspending inclusions or particulates in a liquid composition or beverage using minimal energy.
Still other goals and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.